Vonnoh, Bessie Potter

Vonnoh, Bessie Potter (vŏn`ō), 1872–1955, American sculptor, b. St. Louis, studied under Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago. She was Taft's assistant in his work for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Her small bronzes—Young Mother, Dancing Girl, Reading Girl, and others—are in the museums of New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and other cities. Her fountain figures also are notable for their delicate charm and sentiment. She was married in 1899 to

Robert Vonnoh, 1858–1933, American portrait painter, b. Hartford, Conn., who studied at the Massachusetts Normal Art School and in Paris. He was a portraitist of distinction in the linear academic style; he also painted landscapes. He taught at the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and elsewhere. Among his works are his portrait of Silas Weir Mitchell (Pa. Acad. of the Fine Arts) and La Mère Adèle (Metropolitan Mus.).

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Vonnoh, Bessie (Onahotema) Potter (1872–1955) sculptor; born in St. Louis, Mo. She studied with Lorado Taft at the Art Institute of Chicago (1890), became one of his assistants, opened her own studio (1894), married the painter, Robert Vonnoh (1899), and lived in New York City, Connecticut, and France. She is known for her plaster and bronze statuettes, such as The Young Mother (1896).